The present invention relates generally to medical graft materials, and in particular to medical graft materials having extracellular matrix materials deposited thereon.
By way of further background, a variety of extracellular matrix materials have been proposed for use in medical grafting, cell culture, and other related applications. For instance, medical grafts and cell culture materials containing submucosa derived from small intestine, stomach or urinary bladder tissues, have been proposed. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,902,508, 4,956,178, 5,281,422, 5,554,389, 6,099,567 and 6,206,931. In addition, Cook Biotech Incorporated, West Lafayette, Ind., currently manufactures a variety of medical products based upon small intestinal submucosa under the trademarks SURGISIS®, STRATASIS® and OASIS®.
Medical materials derived from liver basement membrane have also been proposed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,710. As well, ECM materials derived from amnion (see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,361,552 and 6,576,618) and from renal capsule membrane (see WO003002165 published Jan. 9, 2003) have been proposed for medical and/or cell culture applications.
Despite work in these areas there remain needs for alternative and improved materials, methods and devices related to ECM materials. The present invention addresses these needs.